|
| Beatriz
Terrazas/DMN
|
FORT WORTH
101
By
ELLEN KAMPINSKY
Call it 'Cowtown.'
Or the city 'Where the West Begins.' But don't think that's all there
is to Fort Worth.
Fort Worth
somehow manages to have it both ways: It plays up its boots-and-bovine
past for the tourist cameras, while showing off its sophistication with
the world-renowned Kimbell museum, an icon of modern design. Fort Worth
revels in its small-town atmosphere, but supports an energetic downtown
district with jazz, live theater and one-of-a-kind restaurants. It can be
down-home amidst the grab-a-beer-from-the-fridge ambience of Joe T. Garcia's Mexican restaurant or enviably lush in the upscale neighborhoods near
the Colonial Country Club.
Settled in
1849 as a US Army fort, the city gained fame as the last major stop for
cattle drovers on the legendary Chisholm Trail. When the railroad arrived
in 1876, Fort Worth became an important shipping point and the Livestock
Exchange Building – still standing in the Fort Worth Stockyards – earned
the nickname 'Wall Street of the West.'
Today, the
city is as well known for its cultural attractions – the stunning Bass Performance Hall, three great museums, the handsome botanical gardens
and a first-class zoo – as it is for honky-tonks like Billy Bob's or its renovated, frontier-era Stockyards.
That may be a mixed message, but that's just the way Fort Worth likes
it.
Population
- 1997 estimate: 484,500
The Visitors
Guide is exclusive to GuideLive. © 2002 The Dallas Morning News
|
